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In 2010, Stephen Colbert interviewed Neil deGrasse Tyson, and opened with the simple and profound question, “Is it better to know or not to know?”
Tyson’s response was, in effect, “It is better to know.” That little exchange stuck with me, and I believe applies to 2020.
2020 was a year in which we came to “know” a lot of things, not all of which are pleasant, but all of which equip us better for the future. Here are four:
One person we know > 2 million we don’t. Knowledge that “nearly 2 million people died of COVID-19 so far” or “there is systemic racism in many of our public institutions” doesn’t translate to empathy. Empathy lives in the numerator. In this regard, social media has been a force for good - attaching faces and stories to numbers, forcing us to become more empathetic.
Making the poor a little richer usually comes with making the rich a lot richer. Low interest rates and stimulus programs have supported a dramatic rise in some sections of financial asset prices, which are predominantly owned by the economic top 20%.
Scientific innovation can happen at an incredible pace in the right environment. When 2020 started, most of us didn’t know about COVID-19; by the end of it, we were rolling out vaccines (a development process which usually takes more than 10 years). A dire need spurred incredible investment and simplified regulations. This prompts the question - how much suffering are we leaving on the table because of unnecessarily strict regulations? (E.g. Psychadelics to deal with mental health issues).
Remote is great for most desk work. I hope Packy McCormick is right when he says that the most talented employees are never going back into a physical office. Even traditionally accepted “in person” activities such as team bonding and brainstorming can increasingly be done well via online tools. Given that we are just in Year 1 of a “default-remote” work world, we have adapted remarkably well.